Dual-Mode Fluorescence and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Nanoprobe Based on Aromatic Amphiphilic Copolymer Encapsulated CdSe@CdS and Fe₃O₄

Abstract

Nanoparticles exhibiting good biocompatibility and multifunctional optical, magnetic, and reactive properties are essential materials for the construction of next generation theranostics platforms. The core−shell structured CdSe@CdS is one of few semiconductor quantum dots (QD) that shows ideal photoluminescence for biological application including unity quantum yields, identical photoluminescence for ensembles and single dot, nonblinking, and antibleaching. However, overcoming toxicity concerns from Cd 2+ is still a great challenge for promoting the practical medical application of the CdSe@CdS QD. Besides, the high quality luminescent and superparamagnetic nanoparticles at present are basically hydrophobic, which implies that the phase transfer of these functional nanoparticles into aqueous phase is the primary step to enable their biomedical application. Herein, we have developed a facile protocol to fabricate highly biocompatible nanoparticles showing both modulated luminescent and magnetic properties via a one-step self-assembling of amphiphilic block copolyarylene ether nitriles (amPEN), oleic acid stabilized CdSe@CdS QD, and Fe 3 O 4 superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SP) in microemulsion system. Benefiting from the aromatic backbone structure of amPEN and its strong hydrophobic interaction with surface capping agent of QD/SP, the fabricated hybrid nanoprobe exhibits quite competitive colloids stability as well as fluorescent/magnetic properties, which ensures its application for in vitro fluorescence and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of cancer cells.

Photoluminescent Nanoparticles for Chemical and Biological Analysis and Imaging

“…Most of the particle volume consists of LNPs and any other functional NPs rather than a carrier matrix. Examples include, but are not limited to, assemblies of Au NCs, QD aggregates, QDs and IONPs, ,− IONPs and Au NCs, and pLNPs and UCNPs . An example with assembled QDs and IONPs is shown in Figure …”

Recent Advances in Multimodal Molecular Imaging of Cancer Mediated by Hybrid Magnetic Nanoparticles

“…Dispersion in nanoassemblies (supramolecular assembly). Several studies describing different types of molecular matrices composed of polymers [ 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 86 , 87 , 88 ], lipids [ 76 ], polymer dots (PDots) [ 89 , 90 ], and organic molecules [ 91 , 92 , 93 ] can be encountered in the literature. For example, Chen et al [ 94 ] encapsulated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) into liposomes containing PEG, a tumor-targeted peptide (RGD sequence), and ICG (indocyanine green, the only near-infrared dye approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States for clinical use) ( Figure 9 ) [ 95 ].…”

Luminophore and Magnetic Multicore Nanoassemblies for Dual-Mode MRI and Fluorescence Imaging

“…The use of magneto-fluorescent nanoassemblies provides generally biodegradable systems that advantageously avoid bioaccumulation. In this context, several molecular matrices are envisaged composed of polymers [151][152][153][154][155][156][157][158][159], lipids [160][161][162][163], PDots [164][165][166][167] or organic molecule [168][169][170][171][172] ( Figure 6). In this type of organization we will distinguish the assemblies with inert matrices of those composed of active units.…”